Tony Becca

At the end of the first day of the third and final Test between the West Indies and Pakistan in Karachi, the visitors, one down in the series and looking a victory to walk away with a share of the honours, were going well.

After losing the toss and after the home team had decided to bat first on a pitch that appeared good for batting, the West Indies had Pakistan on the run, apparently, at 257 for seven, and especially after the scoreboard had read 178 for three at one stage with Mohammad Yousuf and captain Inzamam ul-Haq at the crease. It was a lovely performance, a good start, and one which could lead to victory.

It could, however, have been better.

In sport one never knows what will happen, but probably, just probably, the Pakistan innings could have been history before the end of the day's play and the West Indies could have been well on the way had the tourists included a specialist spin bowler in the team.

Strange

Again, one never knows, but it seems strange that after playing in the first two matches, after bowling reasonably well and with a bit of bad luck, left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammed, the only specialist spin bowler in the team, was dropped for a match which the West Indies need to win.

On top of that, the consensus was that the pitch for the match which the West Indies need to win would favour spin.

Why was Mohammed dropped? Was it because he did not bowl well in the two previous Test matches, or was it simply another example of the West Indies having no faith in a spin bowler - in any spin bowler.

While that is possible, there could well be another reason. It could be that after dropping Ramnaresh Sarwan for the previous Test match, after probably teaching him a lesson, they needed him back in the team, and with Runako Morton being a batsman and not a spin bowler, they did not want to drop him after one match even though he failed to perform.

That left one of the pace bowlers, and with Jerome Taylor and Corey Collymore bowling well and selecting themselves, with Daren Powell, a pace bowler and not a spin bowler, bowling reasonably well in the previous match, it could not have been any of them - even though the fourth bowler was Dwayne Bravo, an all-rounder who also bowls medium pace.

What was really puzzling about the dropping of a bowler, the one specialist spin bowler at that, was the selection of a batsman - a selection that saw the team going into a Test match with six specialist batsmen, a batting all-rounder, a wicketkeeper and only three specialist bowlers.

Five reasons

Mohammed - dellmar

There are five reasons why the decision to replace Mohammed with Sarwan remains puzzling despite the position of the West Indies in the Test match.

One is that over the years every time the West Indies have attempted to lengthen their batting it has backfired on them.

Second, that they have to win the match.

Third, that in winning one match and drawing the other, Pakistan have dominated the West Indies bowling by scoring 485 and 13 for one, 357 and 461 for seven.

Four, by scoring 591 in their only innings of the second Test - the Test during which they failed to dismiss Pakistan twice after cornering them at 306 for five in their second innings before lunch on the final day, the West Indies batting, with Chris Gayle scoring 93, Daren Ganga 82, captain Brian Lara 216, and Bravo 89, had done very well in the preceding match.

Five, that Mohammed would have been the only specialist spin bowler on a pitch likely to be responsive to spin.

Is it that the West Indies are so afraid of their batting?

So far, up to the end of the first day, Lara has managed his resources well, his field placing has been great, all the bowlers, and especially so Collymore, have bowled well, and sometimes brilliantly, and with part-time offspinner Gayle bowling 17 tight overs, with occasional offspinner Ganga picking up the wicket of Inzamam, the West Indies are well placed to push for victory.

The Test match, however, is a five-day affair, there are four days to go, right-arm leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is in the Pakistan team, and although good seam bowling can also do a good job on a pitch that assists spin bowling, although they can hold on and go on to win, the West Indies may live to regret the omission of Mohammed in this crucial Test match.